
Qass. 
Book 



BAlJt_ 



.7 



■Of 



SPEECH 



MR. BENTON, OF MISSOURI, 




EXPUNGING RESOLUTION. 



^Delivered in the Senate, January 12, 1837. 



The special order of the day beinj? called, the 
Secrelary read tlie following preamble and reso- 
tion: 

licsohitlon to expunge from the. Journal the Resolution of 

the .Senate </ March 'ifi, 1S34, in relation to President 

Jacksun and the Removal of the Deposiles. 

■VVherea?, on the £fith clay of December, in the year 18X3, the 
following resolve was moved in tlie Senate: 

" Resolved, That, by dismisaing the late Secretary of the 
Treasury, b'^cause he would not, contrary to his own sense of 
duty remove ihie money of the United States in deposite with 
the Bank of the United States and its branches, in conlormily 
with the President's opinion, and by appointing his successor to 
effect such removal, which lias been done, the President has 
assumed the exercise of a power over the Treasury of the 
United States, not granted him by the Constitution and laws, 
and dangerous to the liberties.of the People;" 

Which proposed resolve was altered and changed by the mo- 
ver thereof, on the 28ihday of March, in the year 18I}1, so as to 
read as follows: 

" jReso/red, That, in taking upon himself the responsibility 
of removing the deposite of the public money from the Bank 
of the United Stales, the President of the United Sia'es has as- 
sumed the c.\?rcise of a power over the Treasury of the United 
States not 'ii^'nied to him by the Constitution and laws, and 
ilangerous to the liberties of the People;" 

Which resolve, so changed and modified by the niovei there- 
of, on the same day and year last mentioned, was further al- 
tered, so as to read in these words: *• 

" Resolvdl, That the Prcsiilent, in the late executive proceed- 
ings in relation to the revenue, hasa*iimed upon himself au- 
thority and power not conferred by the Constitution and laws, 
iHil m derogation of both;" . ^ 

In which' last mentioned form the ?aid resolve, on the same 
day and year last mentioned, was adopted by the Senate, and 
became the act and judgment of that body, and, as such, now 
rem-iins upon the journul thereof; 

And whereas the said resolve was not warranted by the 
^Jonstitution, and was irregularly and illegally adopted by the 
Senate, in violation of the rights of defence which belong to 
•ve/y ciiisten, and in subvcrsioi. of the fundamental principirs 
of law and justice; because President Jackson was thereby ad- 
judsed and pronounced to be guilty of an impeachable olfence, 
and a stigma placet! upon him ius a violator o( his oath of olfice, 
and of the laws and Constitution which he was sworn to pre- 
serve, protect, and defend, without going through the forms: of 
an impeachment, and without allowing to him the benefits of a 
trial, or the means ofdelence: 

And wlierea.1 the stiid rc-olve, in all its various shapes and 
form?, was unfnundcii and erroneous in pointof fact, and there- 
fore unjust anJ unrighteous, as well aa irregular and unauthori- 



zed by the Constitution; because the said President .laclcsnri 
neither in the act of dismissing Mr. Uuane, nor in the appomt. 
menlofMr. Taney, as specifieil in the first form of the resolve; 
nor in taking upon himself the responsibility of removing the 
deposiies, as specified in the second form of the sa'ne resolve; 
nor in any act which was then, or can now, be specified under 
the vat'ue and ambistuous terms of the general denunciation 
contained in the third and last Ibrm of the resolve, did do er 
commit any act in violation or in derogation ofthe laws and 
Con-stitution, or dangerous to the liberties of the people: 

And whereas the paid resolve, as adopted, was uncertain and 
ambiguous, containing nothing but a loose and floating charge 
for de'i-ogating from the laws and Consiitution, and assuming 
un"-ranted power and authority in the late Executive proceed- 
ing's in relation to the public revenue; without specilying what 
Dart of the Executive proceedings, or what part of the public 
revenuewas intended to be referred to; or what parts of the 
laws and C'onstitution were supposed to have been infringed; 
or in what part of the Union, oral what period ol his adminis- 
tration, these late proceedings were supposed to have taken 
place; thereby putting each Senator at liberty to vole in favor 
of the resolve upon a separate and secret reason of his own, 
and Icav'ng the ground iif the Senate's judgment to be guessed 
at by the public, and to be difl^erenlly and diversely interpreted 
by individual Senators, according to the private and particular 
undeist.-indingof each: contrary to all the ends of justice, and 
to all the forms of legal or judicial proceeding; to the great 
prejudiceof the accused, who could not know against what to 
defend himself; and to the loss of Senatorial responsibility, by 
shielding Senators from pub'ic accountability for making up a 
judgment upon grounds which the public cannot know, and 
whFch, if known, might prove to be insufficient in law, or un 
founded in fact: . ,. , ^ 

And whereas the specification contained in tlie first and se- 
• cond forms ofthe resolve havins been objected to in debate, 
and shown to be insufficient to sirstain the charges they were ad- 
duced to support, and it being well believed that no majority 
could bo obtained to vole lor the said specifications, and the 
same having been actually withdrawn by the mover in the face 
ofthe whole Senate, in consequence of such oljection and be- 
lief, anil before anv vote taken thereupon; the said specifica- 
tions could notalterwards be admitted by any rule of parlia- 
mentary practice, or by any principle of legal imjilication, se- 
cret intendment, or mental reservation, to rtniiain and continue 
a part ofihc wiiticn and public resolve from which they wern 
thus withdrawn; and, if they could be so ndmitted, they would 
not be siiflirient to sustain the charge.? therein contained: 

And whereas the Senate being the constitutional tribunal for 
the trial of the President, when charged by the IIous(! of Re- 
presentatives with offences against the laws and the Cinstitu- 
tioii the adoption of thesaid'resolve, before any impeachment 
preferreii by the House, was a breach of the privileges of the 
House; not warranted by the Consiitution; a subversion of 
justice; a prejudication of a question which might legally 



E'^E^r 



2 



come before ihe-Senate ; and a disqualification of that body to 
perform iis constniuional duly wiih fairness and itnpavtiality, 
if the President should thereafter be regularly impeached by 
the House of Ilepresentatives foi the sameolience: 

And whereas the temperate, respectful, and argumentative de- 
fence and protest of the President against the aforesaid pro- 
ceeding of the Senate was rejected and repulsed liy that body, 
and was voted to be a breach of its privileges, and was not per- 
miitedtobe entered on its journal or printed among its docu- 
ments; while all memorials, petitions, resolves, and remon- 
strances against the President, however violent or unfounded, 
and calculated to inllame tlie people against hnn, were dvdy 
and honorably received, encomiasiically commented upon in 
speeches, read at the table, ordered to be printed with the lung 
list of names attached, referred to the Finance Commitiee for 
consideration, filed away among the public archives, and now 
constitute a part of the public documents of the Senate, to be 
handed down to the latest posterity : 

And whereas the said resolve was introduced, debated, and 
adopted, at a time and under circumstances which had the 
effect of co-operating with the Bank of the United States in the 
parricidal attempt which that institution was then making to 
produce a panic and pressure in the country; to desiroy"ihe 
confidence of the people in President Jackson; to paralyze his. 
administration; lo govern the elections; to bankrupt the Stale 
banks; ruin their currency; fill the whole Union with terror 
and distress; and thereby to extort from the sufferings and the 
alarms of the people, the restoration of the deposites and the 
renewal of its charter: 

And whereas the said resolve is of evil example and danger- 
ous precedent, and should never have been received, debated, 
or adopted by the Senate, or admitted to entry upon its journal: 
Wherefore, 

Resolved, That the said resolve be expunged from the jour- 
nal; and, for that purpose, that the Secretary of the Senate, at 
such time as the Senate may appoint, shall bring the manuscript 
journal of the session 18.33 '34 into the Senate, and, in the pre- 
6cnce of the Senate, draw black lines round the said resolve, 
and write across the face thereof, in strong letters, the following 
words: " Expunged by order op the Senate, this — day 

of , IN THE YEAROPOtIR LoKD, 1837." 

The resolution and preamble having been read, 
Mr. BENTON rose and said: 

Mr. President: It is now near three years since 
the resolve was adopted by the Senate, which it 
is my present motion to expung-e from the jour- 
nal. At the moment tliat this resolve was adopted, 
I gave notice of my intention to move to expuni^e 
it; and then expressed my confident belief that the 
motion would eventually prevail. That expression 
of confidence was not an ebullition of vanity, or a 
presumptuous calculation, intended to accelerate 
the event it afiected to foretell. It was not a vain 
boast, or an idle assumption, but was the result of 
a deep conviction of the injustice done President 
Jacksion, and a thorough reliance upon the justice 
of the American people. I feltthatthe President 
bad been wronged; and my heart told me tint 
this wrovig would be redres.sed! The event 
proves (hat I was not mistaken. The question of 
expunging this resolution has been carried to the 
people, and their decision has been had upon 
it. They decide in favor of the expurgation; and 
theirdecision has been both made and manifested, 
and communicated to us in agreat vaiiety of ways. 
A grpat number of Slates have expressly instruct- 
ed their Senators to vote for this expurgation, A 
very great majority of the States have elected Se- 
nators and Representatixes to Congres?, upon the 
express grcunti of favoring this expurgation. The 
Tank of the United States, which took the initia- 
tive in the accusation against the President, and 
furnished the material, and worked the machinery 
which was used against him, and which was then 
so powerful on this floor, has become more and 
more odious to the public mind, and musters now 
but a slender phaUnx of friends in the two Houses 
of Congress. The late Presidential election fur- 
nishes additional evidence of public sentiment. 



The candidate who was the friend of President 
Jackson, the supporter of his administration, and 
the avowed advocate for the expurgation, has re- 
ceived a large majority of the suffrages of the whole 
Union, and that after an express declaration of his 
sentiments on this prt else point. The evidence of 
the public will, exhibited in all these forms, is too 
manifest to be mistaken, too explicit toreqnirt illus- 
tration, and too imp^ raiivt to be disn-g-ardf d. Omit- 
ting details and specific enumeration of proofs,! I 
reler to our own filths for the i'lstnictions to ex- 
punge, — to the complexion of the two Houses for 
the temper of the people, — to the denational zed 
condition of the IJank of t!ie United States (or the 
(ate of the imperious accuser, — and to the Issue of 
the Presidonlial election I'or the answer of the 
Unitin. All these are pregnant proofs of the pub- 
lic will, and the last pre eminently so; because, Loth 
the question of the expuigiilon, and the form of the 
process, was directly put in issue upon it. A repre- 
.sentative of the people from the State of Kentucky 
formally interrogated a prominent candidate for the 
Presidency on these points, and required from him 
a public answer for the information of the public 
mind. The answer was given, and published, and 
read by all the voters before the election; and I 
deem it right to refer to that answer in this plnce, 
not only as evidence of the points put in issue, but 
also for the purpose of doing more ample jtisiice 
to President Jackson by incorporating Into the 
legislative history of this case, the high an<i hon- 
orable testimony in his favor of theeminent citizen 
wbohasjtist been exalted to the lofty honors of 
the American Presidency: 

"Your last question seeks to know 'my' opinion as to the con- 
stitutional power of the Senate or House of Representatives to 
expunge or obliterate from the journals the proceedings of a pre- 
vious session. 

You will, lam sure, be sali-sfied upon further consideration, 
that iher" are but few ([uesiionsof a political character l^.^s con- 
nected with the duties ot the oHice of President of the United 
States, or that might not with equal propriety he put by an 
elector to a'randidatefor that station, than this. With the jour- 
nals of neither house of Congress can he propm:^ have any 
thing to do. But, as your ([uestion has doubtless been induced 
by the pendency of Col. Benton's Resolutions, to expunge from 
the journals of the Senate certain other resolutions touching the 
official conduct of President .Jackson, I prefer to say, that I re- 
gard the passage of Col. Benton's Preamble and Resolutions to 
be an act of justice to a faithful and greatly injured public ser- 
vant, not only constitutional init self, but i mperiously ilemand 
ed by a proper respect for the well known will of the people." 

I do not propose, sir, to draw violent, unwar- 
ranted, or strained inferences. 1 do not assume 
to say that the question of this expurgation was 
a leading, or a controlling point in the Issue of 
this election. 1 do not assume to say, or insinuate, 
that every individual, and every voter, delivered 
his suffrage with reference to this question. 
Doubtless there were many exceptions. Still, 
the triumphant election of the candidate who had 
expressed himself in the terms just quoted, and 
who was, besides, the personal and politic il friend 
of President Jackson, and the avowed approver 
of his administration, must be admitted to a place 
among the proofs in this case, and ranked among 
the high concurring evidences of the public senti- 
ment in favor of the motion which I make. 

Assuming then that we have ascertained the 
will of the people on this great question, the in- 
quiry presents itself, how far the expression of 
that will ought to be conclusive of our action 



I 



liere? 1 hold tint it oiight to be binding- and oh- 
ligatory upon ii>.! aiul thut, nnt only upon the [)rin- 
ciples of representative GovL-rnment, which re- 
(juires obedience to the known will of the people, 
but also in conformity to the principles upon 
which tiie pioccetlinij against President ,Iack>ion 
uas conducted when the sentence against him 
was adopted. Then every thinp;' was done with 
especial reference to the will of the people! Their 
impiilsion was assumed to be tlie sole motive to 
action, and to them the ult'mate vei'dict was ex- 
pressly referred. The whole machinery of alarin 
and presKUie — every engine of political and mo- 
neyed power — was put in motion, and worked f)r 
nuny months, to excite the people ac^ainst the 
President, and to s-tir up meetings, memorials, pe- 
titions, travelling committees, and distress deputa- 
tions against him; and each symptom of popular 
discontent w:<s bailed as an evidence of public 
will, and quoted here as proof that the people de- 
manded the condemnation of the President. Not 
only legislative assemblies, and memorials from 
large assemblies, were then produced here as evi- 
dence of publ'C opinion, but tiie petitions of boys 
under age, the remonstrances of a few signers, 
and the results of the most inconsiderable elec- 
tion':, were ostentatiously paraded and mag- 
nified as the evidence of the sovereign will of our 
conlituents. Thus, sir, the pwblic voice was 
every thing while that voice, partially <.b- 
tained thro\igh political and pecuniary machina- 
tions, was Hclvcrse to the Pre^ilent. Then the 
popular will wis the shrine at which all worship 
ped. Now, when that will is regularly, soberly, 
repeatedly, arid almost universally expressed 
throtigli the ballot boxes, at the various elections, 
and turns ovit to be in favor of the President, cer- 
tainly no one can disregard it, nor otherwise look 
at it than as the solemn verdict of the competent 
and ultimate tribunil u]ion as issue fairly made up, 
fully argued, and duly submitted for decision. As 
such verdict, I rcceve it. As the deliberate ver- 
dict of the soveieign people, I bow to it. I am 
content. I do not mean tore-open the ca-e, nor 
to recommence the argument. I leave that woik 
to others, if any others choose to perform it. For 
myself, I am content; and, dispensing with fur 
Iher argument, 1 shrdl call for judg.neut, and ask 
to have execution done, upon that unhappy j'lur- 
nal, which the verdict of millions of freemen finds 
;;uilty of bearing on its face an untrue, illegal, 
and unconstitutional sentence of condemnation 
against the approved President of the llepublic. 

Hut, wdiile declining to re-open the argument of 
this question, and refusing to trca 1 over apain the 
ground already traversed, there is another and a 
dilfei-ent task to perform; one w hich the approach- 
ing termination of President Jackson's administra- 
tion makes pec^li^^ly proper at this time, and 
wliich it is my privilege, nnd perhaps my duty, to 
execute, as being the suitable conchisiwn to the 
arduous contest in which we have been so lotig 
engaged: I allude to the general tenor of his ad 
ministration, !»nd to its efi'ect, for good or for evil 
upon tlie condition of hi', country. This is the 
pro[)pr time for such a view to be taken. The po 
litical existence of this great man now draws to a 
close. In little more than forty days he ceases to 



be a pulilic character. In a few brief weeks he 
ceas' H to be an object of politictd hope to any, and 
should cease to be sn o'lject of political hate, or 
envy, to all. Whatever of motive the servile and 
time-serving might have found in his exalted 
.station for raising the altar of adulation, and 
burning the ifceiise of praise before him, that 
motive can no longer exist. The dispenser 
of the patronai^e of an empire — the chief 
of this great Confederacy of Sla'es — is soon 
to be a private individual, stripped of all power to 
reward, or to punish. His (jwn thoughts, a^ he 
has shown us in the concluding piragraph of that 
messige which is to be the last of its kind that we 
shall ever receive from him, are directed to that 
beloved retirement from wliich he was drawn by 
the voice of millions of freemen, and to which he 
now looks for that interval of repose which age 
and infirmities require. Under these circum- 
stances, he ceases to be a subject for the ebuhitioii 
of t!ie passions, and passes into a character for the 
contemplation of history. Historic 11}^ then shall 
I view liim; and limiting this view to hi* civil ad- 
ministration, 1 dein;ind where is there a chief ma- 
gistrate of whom so much evil has been predicted, 
.md fiom whi)m so much good has come' Never has 
any man entered 11 pontile chief migi-.tracy of a coun- 
try under such appalling predictions of ruin and wo! 
never h.'ts any one been so pursued with direful 
prognostications! Never has anv one been so be- 
set and impeded by a powerful combination of 
political and moneyed confe ler ites! Never has 
any one in any country where the administration 
of justice has risen above the knife or the bow- 
string, been so lawlessly, and shameless'y, tried 
and condemned by rivals and enemies, without 
heiring, without defence, without the forms of law 
or justice! History has been ransacked to find ex- 
amples of tyrants sufficiently odious to illustrate 
him by comparison. Language has been tortured 
to find epithets s'llHciently strong to paint him in 
dcscrii-)tion. Imagination has been exhausted in 
her efforts to decic him with revolting and inhu- 
man attributes. Tyrant, despot, usurper; de- 
stroyer of the liberties of Ills country; rash, igno- 
runt, imbecile; endangering the puhiic peace with 
all foreign nutuUTi; destroying domestic prosperi- 
ty at home; ruming all industry, all commerce, all 
manufactories; annihilating confidence between 
man »nd man; delivering up the streets of popu- 
lous cities to grass and weeds, and the wharves of 
commercial towns to the incumbrance of decaying 
vessels, depriving labor of all reward; depriving 
industry of all employment; destroying tlic cur- 
rencv; plunging mi innocent and happy people 
from the summit of felicity to the depths of mise- 
ry, want, and despair. Such is the fabit outline, 
lo. lowed up by actual condemnition, of the appal- 
ling denunciations daily uttered agiinst this one 
MAN, from the moment he became an object of 
political competition, down to the concluding mo- 
ment of his political existence. 

The sacred voice of inspiration has told us that 
there is a time for all things. There certainly 
lias lieen a time for every evil that human nature 
admits of to be vaticinated of President JacksoH's 
administration; equally certain the time has now 
come lor all rational and well-disposed people to 



compare the predictions with the facts, and to ask 
themselves if these calamitous prognostications have 
been verified by events? Have we peace, or 
War, with foreign nations? Certainly, we liave 
peace! peace with all tlie world! peace with all 
its benign, and felicitous, and bentficept influ- 
ences! Are we respected, or de?pis^.d abroad? 
Certainy the American name never was more ho- 
nored throughout the four quarters of the globe, 
than in this very moment. Do we hear of indig- 
nity, or outrage in any quarter' of merchants rob- 
bed in fi:ireign ports? of vessels searched on the 
high seas? of American citizens impressed into fo- 
reign service? of the national fl:4g insulted «ny 
wliere? On the contrary, we see former wrongs re- 
paired; no new ones infiicted. France pays twenty- 
live millions of francs for spoliations committed 
thirty years ago; Naplespays two niilliotis one hun- 
dred thousand ducats for wrongs oftlie same date; 
Denmaik pays six hundred and fifty tiiousand 
rixdollars for wrongs done a quarter of a centurj' 
ago; Spain engages to pay twelve millions of 
reals vtllon for it juiies of fifteen jears date; and 
Portugal, the last in the list of former aggressors 
admiishcr liabiii'y, and only waits the adjustnient 
of details to close her account by adequate indem- 
nity. So far from war, insult, contempt, and spolia- 
tion from abroad; this denounced administration has 
been the season of peace and good will, and the; 
auspicious era of universal i-eparalion. So fnr 
from suffering injuiy at the hai-ds of foreiirn 
powers, our merchanis have received indemnities 
for all ibrmer injuries. Itiiasbeen the day of accoun- 
ting, of settlement, and of retribution. The long list 
ofsrrearngev'.ext.n ling though four successive pre- 
vious administrations, has been closed and settled 
up. The wrongs done to commeme for thirty 
years back, and under so manv different Presi- 
dents, and indemnities witiihek'l from all, have 
been repaired and paid over luiderthe beneficent 
and glorious administration of President Jackson 
liut one single instance of outrage hn=; occurred, 
and that at the extremities oCthe world, and by a 
piiatical horde, amenable to no law but tli? hw of 
force. The Malays of Summatia committed a rob- 
bery and massacre upon an American vessel. 
Wretches! they did not then know that JACK- 
SON was President of the United Stntes! and that 
no distance, no time, no idle ceremonial of treating 
with robbers and assassins, was to hold back the 
arm of justice. Commodore Downes went out. 
His cannon and his bayonets struck the otit'aws in 
their den. ^ They paid in terror and in blood for the 
outrag-e which was committed; and the great les- 
son was taught to these distant pirates— to our an- 
tipodes themselves— that not even the entire diam- 
eter of this globe could protect them! and that the 
jume of American citizen, like that of Roman citi- 
zen in tile great days of the Republic and of ih- 
empire, was to be the inviolable passi)ort of •dl that 
■wore it thioughout the whole extent of the habha- 
ble world. 

At home the most gratifying picture presents 
itself to the view: The public debt paid off; 
taxes reduced one half; the eomple'ioui of the 
public defences systematically commenced; thf 
com ctwith Georgia uncomplicd with since 1S02, 
n- curried into tflect, and licr soil ready to be 



freed, as her jurisdiction has been delivered, from 
the presence and incumbrance of an Indian popu- 
lation. Mississippi and Alabama, Ceorgia, Ten- 
nessee and North Carolina, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, 
Missouri a.id Arkansas, in a word, all the Slates 
encumbered with au Indian poptdation have been 
relieved fi'otn that incumbranee; and the Inditns 
themselves have been transferred to new and per- 
manent homes, every way better adapted to the 
enjoyment of their existence, the preservation of 
their rights, and the improveip.ent of their condi- 
tion. 

The currency is not ruined! On tlie contrary 
SKVENIY-FIVE millions of specie in the coun- 
try is a spectacle never seen before, and is the bar- 
rier of the peo|de against the designs of any banks 
which may attempt to suspend payments, and to 
force a dlihonored paper currency upon the 
community. These seventy -five millions are 
the security ^of the people against the dangers 
of a depreciated and inconvertible paper money. 
Golc', al\ur a disappearance of thirty years is rc- 
stor. d to our country. All Eiu'ope beholds with 
adm ra ion the success of our efrbrts in three years, 
tost pp'y our.sclves with the currency which our 
Con.-ti:uti(>n guaranties, and which the example 
of France and Holland shows to be so easily at- 
tainable, and of such incalculable value to indus- 
try, morals, economy and solid wealth. T\\e suc- 
cess of these efforts is styled in the best London 
papers, not Tiierely a reformation, btit a revolution 
in the currency ! a revolution hv which our Ame- 
rica is now regaining from Europe the gold and sil- 
ve which she has been sending to tiiem ibrthuiy 
years past. 

Domestic industry is not pralyzed, confidence is 
not destroyed, factories are not slopped, work- 
men are not mendicants for bread and employment, 
credit is net extinguished, prices have not sunk, 
glass is not growing in the s reets of popul,<is 
cities, the wharves are not lumbered with decay- 
ing vessels, columns of ciu-ses rising from the bo- 
soms of a ruined and agonized people, are not as- 
cending to Heaven against the destroyer of a na- 
tion's felicity and prosperity. On the contrary, 
the reverse of all this is true! and true to a degree 
that asionishes and bewilders tlie senses. I 
know that all is not gold that glitter?; that there is 
a dilference between a specious and a solid prospe- 
rity. I know that a part of the present prosperity 
is apparent only, the effect of an increase of fifty 
millions of p' per money forced nito circulation by 
one thousand banks; but after m.aking due allow- 
ance fior this fictitious and delusive excess, the real 
prosperity of the country is stiU unprecedently 
and transcendantly great. I know ih-A every flow 
mu-.t be followed by its ebb, that every expansion 
mu^t be follov/ed by itsconli-action. 1 know that 
a revulsion in the paper system is inevitable; but 
I know, also, that il'.ese SEVENTY-FiVE MIL- 
LIONS OF GOLD AND S Ln ER is the bulvvirk 
of the countiy, and will enable every /ioncsl. bank 
to meet its liardlitie.s, and every prudent citizen to 
take c.-.re of himself. 

Turning to some points in the civil administra- 
of Presiiient Jackson, and how much do we not 
find to admire! The great cause o' the Constitu- 
tion has been vindicated from an imputation of 



more th:«n[forty years' duration. He has demon 
Ntraled by the f\<ct itself, that a national bank is not 
^'necefisary" to the fiscal operations of the Federal 
Goveriinrient, and in that demonstration he lias up 
set the argument of General Hamilton, and the de- 
cision of the Supreme Court of the United 
States, and all that ever has been said in favor 
of the rcn^tit^ltio^ality of a national bank. 
All this nr.^ument and decision rested upon the 
single assumption of the '^necessity" of that insti- 
tution lo the J''ccieral Gavernment. He has shown 
it is not ^'■nccessart,';'" that the currency of the Con- 
s' itution, and especially a pold curency, is all that 
the Federal Government wants, and that she can 
j;et that whenever she pleases. In this slntjle act 
he has vindicated the (Constitution from an unjust 
imputation, and knocked from under the decision 
of ihe Supreme Court the assumed fact on which 
it rested. He has prepared the way for the 
i^ver&al of that decision; and it Is a question for 
lawyers to answer, whether the casf* is not ripe for 
the application of that writ of most remedial na- 
ture, as the Lord Coke calls it, and which was in- 
vented lest in any ca'^e there shouli be an oppres- 
sive defect of jastice! the venerable writ of audita 
querela dffemlailis, to ascertain the truth of a fact 
happening' since the ji-dirment, and upon the due 
findme;' of which the jtu!i;ment will be vacated. 
Lot tl)e lawjers i)riiig their books, and answer us 
if there is not a case I ere presented for the appli- 
cation of that ancient and mo'=.t remedial writ? 

From I're'ident .lacksnn the country lias first 
]p.irried the ti uc theory and practical intent of tlie 
Constitution, in giving to tlie Executive a qualified 
nega'ive on the legislative power of Congress. 
Far from being an o'lious, dangerous, or kingly 
prerogative, tl;is power, as vested in the Presi- 
dent, is notliing Ijut a qualified cop)' of the famf)us 
veto power vested in the tribunes of the people 
among the liimans, and inten»-!eil to suspend the 
pass.ge of a law until the people themselves 
sliould have time to consider it. The quaiificd 
vdu of the President destroys nothing; it only de- 
lays the passage of a law, and refers it to the 
jieople fo:- their consideration and decision. It 
i-i the refe'-ence of the law, not to a committee 
of the House, or of tlie whole House, but to 
the committee of the whole Tnion. It is a 
recommitment nf the hill to the. I'tople. fir them 
lo examine and considi-r; and If upon this examina- 
tion ihoy are contend to pass it, it will pass at the 
next session. The delay of a few months is the 
only effect of a veto in a case where the peo- 
ple sh'd! ultimattdy approve a law; where they do 
not Hpprove^it, the iiiterpoKition of the veto is the 
hurrit-r which saves them the infliction of a law, 
the n peal of which might afterwards be almost 
impossible. The qu'^lifi(<l negative is, therefore, 
a beneficent power, inii lul- d, us General Hamilton 
expressly declares in the Fi derails', to protect, 
Jirst, the Executive Department from the encroach- 
ments of ihe Legislative dep u'tment; and, necondli/, 
to preserve the people from hasty, dangerous, or 
criminal legislati:)n on the p'nrt of their representa- 
tives. This is the design and intention of the veto 
power; and the fear expressed hy General Hamil- 
ton w (s that Presidents, so far from exercising it 
too often, would not exercise it as often as tlie 



safety of the people required; that they m!ght lack 
tlie moral courage to stake themselves in opposi- 
tion to a favorite measure of the m-joritv of the 
two Houses of Congress, and thus deprive the peo- 
ple, in many instances, of their right to pass upon 
a bill before it become a final law. The cases in 
which President Jackson has exercied the vfto 
power has shown tlie soundness of these obte - 
vations. No ordinary President would have 
str.ked himself iig^lnst the IJank of the United 
States, and the the two Houses of Congress, in 
1832. It required President Jackson to confront 
that power — to stem that torrent — to stay the 
progress of that charter, and to refer it to the 
people for their decision. His moral courage was 
equal to the crisis. He arrested the charter until 
it could go to the people, and they have arrested 
it for ever. Had he not don& so, the charter would 
have become law, and its repeal almost impossible. 
The people of the whole Union would now have 
been in the condition of the people of Pennsylva- 
nia, bestrode by the monster, in daily conflict with 
him, 'ind maintaining a doubtful contest for supre- 
macy between the Government of a State, and 
the directory of a moneyed corporation ! 

To detail specific acts which adorn the adminis- 
tration of President Jackson, and illustrate the in- 
tuitive sagacity of his intellect, the firmness of his 
mind, his disregard of personal popularity, and his 
entire devotion to the public good, would be in- 
consistent with this rapid sketch, intended merely 
to present general views, and not to detail single 
actior.^.s, howsoever worthy they may be of asplen- 
dld page in the volume of history. Rut how cun 
we pass over the great measure of the removal of 
the public moneys from the Bank of the United 
States in the autumn of 1833? that wise, heroic, 
and masterly measure of prevention, v/hich has 
rescued an empire from the fangs of a mer- 
ciless, revengeful, greedy, insatiate, implica- 
ble, moneyed power! It is a renvtik for 
which I am indebted to the philosophic 
observation of my most esteemed colleague 
and friend, (pointing to Dr. Linn) tha*, whi'e it 
requires far greater talent to foresee an evil be- 
fore it happens, and to arrest it hy precaution'ary 
measures, than it requires to apply an adequate 
remedy to the same evil after it li:^3 h'^ppcned, 
yet the applause bestowed by the world is a'wpys 
greatest in the latter case. Of this the removal 
of the public moneys from the Bank of the Un ted 
States is an eminent instance. 'Ihe veto of 1832, 
which arrested the charter which Coiij. res^ had 
granted, immediately received the applause 
and approbation of a luajonty of the Unlor; 
the removal of the deposites, which prevent- 
ed the bank from forcing a recharter, was 
disapproved by a large majority of the coun- 
try, and even of his own friends; yet the vttn 
would have been unavailiofr, and the bank 
would inevitably have been rechartercd, if the de- 
posites had not been remove 1. The immense 
sums of public monf.y since accumulated, would 
have enabled the bank, if she had retained the 
possession of it, to have coerced a recharter. 
Nothing but the removal could Imve prevented 
her from extorting a recharter from the suffering.-* 
and terrors of the people. If it had not been for 



6 



that measure, the previous veto would have been 
unavHJinp;'; the bank would have been a^ain iti- 
stalied in power, and this entire Federal Govern- 
ment would have been held as an appendage to 
that bank, and administered according to her di- 
leclions, and by her nominees. That great measure 
of prevention, the removal ot the deposites, though 
feebly and iaintly supported by friends at first, 
has expelled the bank liom the field, and driven 
her into abeyance under a State charter. She is 
rot dead, but, holding her capital and stockholders 
togetlier under a State charter, she has taken a 
position to watch events, and to profit by them. 
The 10) al tiger has gone info tlie jungle! and, 
crouched on his beliy, he awaits the favorab'e mo- 
ment <or emerging from his cover, and springing 
on the bodvofthe unsuspicious traveller! 

Tlie Treasury order for excluding paper money 
from the land ofiices is another wise measure, 
originating in an enlightened forecast, and pre- 
venting great mischiefs. The Pres.ident foresaw 
the evils of .".uffering a thousand streams of paper 
money, issuing from a thousand different banks, 
to discliarge themselves on the national domain. 
He foresaw that if these currents were allowed to 
run their course, that the public lands would bt 
swept away, the Treasury would be filled witli 
irredeemable paper, a vast number of banks must 
be broken by their folly, and the cry set up that 
nothing but a national bank could regulate tlie 
currency. He stopped the course of these streams 
of paper; and in so doing, has saved the country 
from a great calamity, and excited anew the ma- 
chinal ions of those whose schemes of gain and mis- 
chief have been disappointed, and who had counted 
on a new edition of panic and pressure, and again 
saluting CoHgress with the old story of confidence 
destroyed, currency ruined, prosperity annihilated, 
and distress produced, by the tyranny of one man. 
They began their lugubrious song; but ridicule 
and copitempt have proved too strong for money 
•and insolence; and the panic letter of the ex pre- 
sident of the denationalized bank, after limping 
shout tor a few days, has shrunk from the lash of 
ptiblic scorn, and disappeared from the forum of 
public debate. 

1 hed.fficuhy with Prance: what an instance it 
presents of the superior sagacity of President 
Jackson (jver all the common-place politicians who 
be'et and impede his administration at home! Tiiat 
diflicuiiy, inflamed and aggravated by domestic 
faction, wore, at onetime, a portentous aspect: 
the skill, firmness, elevation of purpose, and man- 
ly frankr.e.^s of the President, avoided the dan- 
ger, accomplished the object, commanded the ad- 
n-:irat!on of Europe, aiid retained the friendship of 
France. He conducted the delicate affair to a 
successful, and mutually honorable issue. All i; 
amicably and happily terminated, leaving not a 
wound, nor even a scar, behind — leaving the 
Frenchinan and American on the ground on which 
they have stood for fifty years, and should forever 
stand; the ground of fViendshij), respect, good 
will, and mutujil wishes for the honor, happi- 
ness and prosperity of each other. 

But why this specification? So beneficent and 
so glorious has been the administration of this Pre- 
sident, that where to begin, and where to end, in 



the enumeration of great measures, would be the 
embarrassment of him who has hi^ eulogy to make. 
He came into office tlie first of generals; he goes 
out the first of state.'men. His civil competitors 
have shared the fate of his military opponents; and 
Washington city has been to the American politi- 
cians who have assailed him, what New Orleans 
was to the British Generals who attacked his lints. 
Uepulsrd! driven back' discomfitted! crushed! 
h iS been the (ate of all assailants, foreign and do- 
mestic, civil and military. At home and abroad, 
the impress of his genius and of his character is 
felt. He has impressed upon the age in which 
he Hvls the stamp of his Bims, of his di- 
plomacy, and of his domestic policy. In a 
wor<', so transcendant have been the merits 
of his administraton that they have ope- 
rated a miracle upon the minds of his most 
inveterate opponents. He has expunged their ob- 
jections to Military Chief ains! He has shown them* 
that they were mistaken; that militatary men 
were not the dangerours rulers they had imagined, 
hut safe and prosperous conductors of the vessel of 
St.-ite. He has changed their fear into love. With 
visible signs they admit their error,and instead ofde- 
precatingthty now invoke the reign of Chieftains, 
rhey labored hard to procure a military successor 
to the present incumbent, and if their love goes 
on increasing at the same rate, ihe Bepublic may 
be put to the e^pense of periodical wars, to 
Irt-ed a perpetual succession of these chieftains 
to ride over them and their po5.terity for ever. 

To drop this irony, which the inconsistency of 
mad opponents has provoked, and to return to 
the plain delineations of historical painting, the 
mind intsinctively dwells on the vast and unprece- 
dented popularity of this President. Great is the 
influence, great the power, greater than any m:m 
ever before possessed in our America, whici he has 
acquired over the public m^nd. And how has he 
acquired ii? Not by the arts ofintrgue, or the 
juggling tricks of diplomacy; not by undermining 
rivals, or sacrlficiig public interests for the gra'i- 
ficution of classes or individuals But he has ac- 
quired it, first, by the exercise of an intuitive sa- 
gacity which, leaving all book learning at an im- 
measurable distance behind, has always enabled 
him to adopt the right remedy, at the right time, 
and to cor^quer soonest when the men of forms and 
ofifice tliought him most near to ruin and de- 
spair. Next, by a moral courage, whch knew 
no fear when the public good beckoned him 
to go on. Last, and cliiefest, he has acquired 
it bv an open honei^'y of purpose, which knew 
no concealments; by a str.Vight-forwaniness of 
action, which disdained the forms of office, and 
the arts of intrigue; by a disinterestedness of 
motive, which knew no selfish or sordid cdcula- 
tion; a devotedness of patriotism, wliich staked 
every thing personal on the is«ue of every mea- 
sure which the public welfare required him to 
adiipt. By these qualities, and these means, he 
has acquired his prodigious popularity and his 
transcendent influence over the public mind; and 
if there are any who envy that influence and popu- 
larity, let them envy, also, and emulate, if they 
can, the qualities and means by which they were 
accLuired. 



Great has been the opposition to President 
Jackson's administration; greater, perhaps, tlian 
ever ha^ been exhibited against any Governmenl, 
short of actual insurrection and forcible resistance. 
Revolution lins been proclaimed! and every thing' 
has been done that could be expected, to produce 
revohilion. The country has been alarmed, agi- 
tated, convulsed. From the Senate chamber to the 
villag'-.- bar-room, from (-me ewd of the continent to 
the other, denunciation, agita'iop, excitement, has 
been the trder of tlie da). J'or eight years tlie 
President of this Republic h^s stood upon a vol- 
cano, vomiting- fire and flimes upon itim, and 
threatening the country itself witli ruin and deso- 
lation, if the pt pple did not expel the usurper, 
despot, and tyrant, as he was called, from the 
high plare to which the suffrages of millions of 
Ireemen had elevated him. 

Great is the confidence which he has always 
reposed in the discernment and equity of the Ame- 
rican people. I have been accustomed to see him 
'for many years, and under many discouraging 
trials; but never saw him doubt, for an instant, the 
ultimate support of tlic people- It was my privi- 
lege'to see him often, and during the most gloomy 
period of the panic conspiracy, when the whole 
earth seemed to be in commotion against him, and 
when many friends were faltering, and stout hearts 
were quailing, before the raging s'orm which 
bank , machination, and Senatorial denunciation, 
had conjured up to overwhelm him. 1 saw him 
in the darkest moments of this gloomy period; 
and never did I see his confidence in the uliim»te 
support of his fellcw-citiaens, forsake him for an 
instant. He always'said the people would stand 
by those who stand by them; and nobly have they 
justified that confidence! That verdict, the vulc 
of millions, which now demands the exptirgation 
of that sentence which the Senate and the bank 
then pronounced upon him, is the magnificent 
re»ponse of tlie people's hearts to the implicit con- 
fidence which he then reposed in them. But it 
was not in the people on'y that he had confidence; 
there was anotlier, and a fir higher Power, to 
which he constantly looked to save the country, 



and its defenders, from every danger; and sig- 
nal events prove that liC did not look to that iiigh 
Power in vain. 

Sir, I think it right, in approaching tlie termi- 
nation of this great question, to jiresent this^aint 
and rapid sketch of the brilliant, beneficent, and 
glorious admmistration of President Jackson. It 
Is not for me to attempt to do it justice; it is not 
for ordinary men to attempt its l)istory. His mili- 
tary life, resplendent with dazzling ev^^nts, wi!i de- 
mand the pen of a nervous writer; his civd aslmin- 
istiaiion, replete with scenes which have called 
into action so many and such rarious passi( ns of 
the human heart, and which has given to native 
sagacity so many victories over practised po iti- 
cians, will require the profound, luminous and 
philosophical conceptions of a Livy, a Plutarch, or 
a Sallust. Tills history is not to be wiitten in our 
day. The cotemporaries of such events :ire not 
the hands to describe them. Time mvst fis do 
its office, — must sdence the passions, rem( ve ihe 
actors, develope consequences, and canonize all 
that is sacred to honor, patriotism, and glory. In 
after agesthe historic genius of our America slidl 
produce the writers which the subject demands, — 
men far removed from the contests of this day, 
wlio will know how to estimate this great epoch, 
and how to acquire an Immortahty for their own 
names by paintmg, with a master's hand, the im- 
mortal events of the Patriot President's life. 

And now, sir, I finish the task which, three 
years ago, I imposed on myself. Solit;iry and 
alone, and amidst the jeers and taunts of my oppo- 
nents, I put this ball in motion. The pe >(jie iiave 
tsken it up, and rolled it forward, and I am no 
i iii^er any thing but a unit in the vast mass which 
I v propels it. In the name of tl at raa^s I 
..eak. I demand t^.e execution of the Edict of 
I iiiK People: I demand the expurgation of that 
sentence which the voice of a few Senators, and 
I the power of their confederate, the Bank of the 
(United States, has caused to be placed on the. 
journal of the Senate, and which the voice of n I- 
lions of freemen has ordered to be expunged 
from it. 



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